Timeline

Key figures

Origin and history

The Céret Museum of Modern Art was founded in 1950 by Pierre Brune and Frank Burty Haviland, in a 17th century old Carmelite convent. It was born from an initiative to preserve the artistic heritage of Ceret, a city that attracted major artists such as Picasso, Braque, Juan Gris and Max Jacob at the beginning of the 20th century, making it a home of cubism. The project was supported by donations of works, including 53 pieces by Picasso and 14 drawings by Matisse, as well as by the collection left by Madame Aribaud in 1934, including works by Gris, Herbin and Masson.

Between 1910 and 1913 Céret became a meeting place for Montmartre artists, attracted by Frank Burty Haviland, Manolo Hugué and Déodat de Séverac. After World War I, a new wave of artists, including Chaim Soutine and Aristide Maillol, settled there, followed in the 1940s by refugees fleeing Nazism, such as Tristan Tzara and Jean Dubuffet. These successive stays forged the artistic identity of the city, leading to the creation of the museum to celebrate this history.

The museum experienced several expansions, notably in 1993 under the leadership of President François Mitterrand, after a modernization launched in 1986. In 2005, he became a Public Institution for Cultural Cooperation (EPCC), jointly managed by the city of Céret, the Pyrénées-Orientales department and the Languedoc-Roussillon region. Closed in 2019 for work, it reopened in March 2022, consolidating its international reputation as one of France's major museums for cities with less than 20,000 inhabitants.

The architecture of the museum, redeveloped in 1993 by Jaume Freixa and Philippe Pous, includes three historic buildings (former gendarmerie, wash houses, convent) organized around two inner courtyards. The museum's scientific project highlights works created in Céret and artistic movements in the South of France, including the Support-Surface group. Its outreach is based on 20th century representative collections and contemporary temporary exhibitions.

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